History

Front of rooming house at original Frontier City location at the Oklahoma State Fair grounds (1959 photograph)

Last Chance Saloon and skyride at original Frontier City location (1959)

In 1958, the park opened along Route 66, now Interstate 35. It featured a haunted farm, mine train, robberies and jails. Initially, guests entered for free but paid a quarter to watch the gunfight shows. It started out as Boomtown, a replica of an Oklahoma pioneer town that was built for the state's semi centennial celebration in 1957 at the Oklahoma State Fairgrounds. Jimmy Burge, leader of the committee that built it, decided to open an amusement park with the same theme.[1] Rather than a traditional ribbon cutting, it was scheduled to have an old fashioned six shooter aimed at a piece of rope stretched across the stockade entrance. That is the same manner used today for its opening. It added spinning rides, roller coasters, and a log flume ride starting in the 1960s and 1970s.

The park was originally owned and operated by OKC businessmen James Burge and Jack Williams. He had been a publicist in Hollywood for twenty years for the likes of Joan Crawford and Robert Taylor. He visited Disneyland when it opened in 1955, and was very impressed with the theme park business. Being from Oklahoma City, he knew his hometown would be a natural location for a western-themed amusement park. Back in there, he was commissioned as the leader of the 1957 Oklahoma Semi-Centennial Celebration. After the 1957 event was over, he negotiated with the fair board to purchase many of the buildings and props at the "Boom Town" exhibit. He partnered with Jack Williams and together they developed the park as a recreation of an 1880s Western town. The four square blocks of streets contained a Marshall's office, saloon, bank, post office, fire department, hotel, and numerous storefronts. Attractions at the park included a train ride built by Arrow Dynamics, an authentic stagecoach ride, a donkey ride, and an indoor dark ride designed by Russell Pearson, a former Disney designer who later went on to Silver Dollar City in Branson, Missouri and Ghost Town In The Sky in Maggie Valley, North Carolina.

The park flourished and prospered during its first six seasons, reporting attendance of over one million people each year. Although attendance was rumored to be recorded by Burge riding around on the train and counting all the heads every hour, which likely led to counting the same people multiple times each day. It was famous for its gunfights, Indian dancing, saloon shows, train robberies and other similar types of Western experiences.

In the fall of 1981, a local real estate company bought the park with plans to dismantle it and develop the land. However, the oil crunch slowed down the local real estate boom and the startled company found itself with a sagging amusement park to operate. The president of the company at that time realized Oklahoma City needed a local amusement park, but also knew that throwing a few million dollars at the park was not going to be enough to solve its problems. In 1983, the owners hired a management company to operate it. In 1987, the contract was not renewed, but the management staff went to work directly for the park owners, Frontier City Properties, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Tierco Group, Inc.

On January 27, 2006, Six Flags put Frontier City and White Water Bay, Six Flags Magic Mountain, Elitch Gardens, Darien Lake, a couple of water parks, and Wild Waves/Enchanted Village for sale. At the same time, they also announced their plan to close its corporate offices in Oklahoma City and move to New York City and Grand Prairie, Texas. Mark Shapiro, Six Flags CEO at that time, said he expected the parks to continue operation after the sale. But rumors surfaced that some of them could close. The announcement also created a lot of confusion in the Oklahoma City market. Many people misunderstood the announcement, instead thinking that Frontier City was shutting down and relocating to New York.[4]

On January 11, 2007, Six Flags opted to keep Magic Mountain, but then announced that it would sell Frontier City and White Water Bay, along with Elitch Gardens, Darien Lake, Splashtown (near Houston), and Wild Waves/Enchanted Village to PARC 7F-Operations.[5] As a part of the deal, the Six Flags prefix was removed from Elitch Gardens and Darien Lake. Frontier City and White Water Bay were never branded as Six Flags parks. PARC sold them to CNL Income Properties, Inc., and the two companies set up a long-term agreement in which CNL would lease the parks to PARC, which would operate them.[6]

In 2008 a new suspended roller coaster, Steel Lasso, was added to celebrate the park's 50th anniversary

On November 24, 2010, CNL Lifestyle Properties, Inc. announced that it had reached an agreement to terminate PARC's lease of the park and up to 17 other locations due to PARC defaulting on its contractual lease and loan obligations.[7] The move came after, according to their 2010 SEC filings, PARC defaulted on their lease obligations on the properties.[8] Five of the original six parks originally purchased from Six Flags are also involved in the lease termination.

In 2011, it was announced that, as the result of an agreement with owner CNL Lifestyle Properties, former Six Flags executives Kieran Burke and Gary Story would begin managing the properties as Premier Parks, LLC.[9]

In 2012 a new multi-million dollar water play structure was erected in a former parking lot. The area is called Wild West Water Works and features seven slides, a 1,000 gallon tipping water bucket, and hundreds of water gadgets.[10]

Another new attraction was added in 2016 called The Gunslinger, a 60-foot-tall spinning thrill ride made by Italian ride manufacturer Zamperla. It was relocated from Magic Spring in Hot Springs, Arkansas, a park also owned by CNL Lifestyle Properties, Inc. 2016 also celebrates the 25th anniversary of the Wildcat. Much of the wood on its track was replaced in 2016 to make for a smoother ride.

After the 2016 season the park was again sold, this time to EPR Properties[12] which is operating it under the name Frontier City Holdings LLC. Premier parks has continued on as the management company with Stephen Ball continuing to act as its General Manager.[13]

For the 2017 season the Wildcat received a complete train makeover with rebuilt cars which includes new lap bars as well as a new color scheme of dark blue from its previous red. A new million dollar water ride was added to the Wild West Waterworks called the Gully Washer[14] which consists of three high-thrill water slides that will start from a tower approximately 66 feet tall. One of the new shows for the 2017 season performed in the Opera House is called "Shake, Rattle, and Roll" which replaced the show "Industrial Movement" and revisited the music of the 50's and 60's era.[15]

Special Events

The park hosts numerous concerts every summer at the Starlight Amphitheater. The concerts are included with the park admission.

Every October the park is transformed into the biggest Halloween festival in Oklahoma: "FrightFest". Several haunted mazes, a large haunted house, trick or treating, Halloween shows and a parade takes place nightly. The event is a very popular attraction.

The park is also the location for multiple cheerleading and band competitions throughout the season.

In 2018 the park will kick off its inaugural "Frontier Christmas" event, adding 15 operating days in December (Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays).